


Early Christmas

by pressuredrightnow



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-04
Updated: 2019-07-04
Packaged: 2020-06-03 17:49:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19469035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pressuredrightnow/pseuds/pressuredrightnow
Summary: You’re the person in the apartment next door who VERY LOUDLY blasts holiday music starting in NOVEMBER and I hate Christmas au





	Early Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> I was supposed to post this christmas 2017 but heeeeyy...

It was supposed to be a quiet afternoon, Halloween just passed so the street pranks would stop and children will no longer knock on doors for candies. She didn't hate the kids but actually enjoyed talking to them a bit before letting them leave with their loot. However, the clown pranks on the streets were ridiculous and absolutely terrifying she's glad to see them gone.

The holiday also gave her an idea for a new children's book she was planning to make after the success of her first oneIt was the perfect moment to start outlining the story while the idea's still fresh and her mood and motivation high. But apparently, it was too much to expect.

Music blared from the room next door, the wall doing nothing to prevent that irritating chiming of bells and the lively tune from being heard, and Regina understood that some people really loved Christmas and goes all out on decorations, but for christ's sake it was the first week of November and they've been playing Christmas jingles all day.

At first, it was the traditional songs in the morning, she was awoken by the song saying _'it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas'_ and Regina groaned into her pillow muttering ' _I'll burn those trees into the ground'_ until Frosty the Snowman forced her out of bed. She grumbled all the way to the kitchen and made some coffee while Rudolph the red nose reindeer played.

It slowly evolved from old songs to modern ones, still the upbeat tone and loud jingling of bells, and sometimes mixing them up. It was one in the afternoon, she haven't started writing and can't even concentrate when all she can think about is it's freaking November and her neighbor is a big fan of Christmas.

Five more minutes of staring at a blank paper on the screen she decided to confront her neighbor. She needed peace and quiet to put down the words circling in her head, begging to be written into something she can save before it's gone or too hazy to remember. She took a sip of her rapidly cooling coffee and grabbed her robe draped on her couch before walking out of her room to the room next door.

She knocked five times, loud enough to hear over the absurd volumes they're producing. She waited approximately thirty seconds before knocking again but louder. She tried two more times before resorting to pounding her fist, her face flushed from frustration and embarrassment, before hearing a faint _'Coming!'_ somewhere inside.

"What is it?" a blonde with messy hair, looks like she just rolled out of bed, and still half closed eyes fighting to stay open, snapped at her, her head just visible between the gap of the door.

"Can you turn down the volume of your music," she said, almost shouting to make sure the blonde heard it clearly through her sleepy haze, "or better yet turn it off completely as it is still far from Christmas."

"Christmas is next month, lady." The woman rubbed her eyes awake before squinting at her. She gave Regina a once over before her gaze returned to the brunette's face.

"Exactly, next month," she pulled her robe tighter around her while glaring at the woman, "so if you want Christmas songs this early in November, I would appreciate it if you'll keep it to yourself and in your room. Not everyone shares the enthusiasm you people have for the overrated holiday."

The blonde woman now glared at her, she ran her fingers through her blonde mess of a hair and stood straight, as if what Regina said had woken her up completely, before opening the door wider. Regina quickly noticed two things: first of all, the woman was wearing nothing but a white tank top and a red short shorts. Second of all, she looked like she popped out of a sports magazine featuring her toned and sexy body on the cover. Regina never swore a lot, and only if she's very frustrated at some imbecile, but the profanity her mind's filtering at that exact moment would have let a word slip if it wasn't for the blonde's voice interrupting her very inappropriate thoughts.

"Looks like I found the Scrooge already," she smirked at Regina while leaning on the door frame. "And I would have worn longer shorts if you didn't start pounding on the door."

Regina blinked and realized that she had been staring at the blonde's distracting shorts, with blushing cheeks, she quickly fixed a glare at her and crossed her arms to show her annoyance.

"I knocked for two minutes, I'd say that's more than enough to find suitable pants to cover yourself before answering your door."

Regina studied the woman's face, she stared back for a few second before sighing and running her hand through her hair again.

"Look, I would love to annoy you more _but,_ " she raised a hand to stop Regina from interrupting, "I need to do more important stuff so we'll lower the volume and you can get on with whatever you were doing."

"I'd appreciate that," Regina nodded at her while the blonde winced at her, which is probably her attempt at a smile, before closing her door. The volume lowered to an acceptable volume after a few seconds and Regina can finally concentrate on her current project.

* * *

" _All I want for Christmas is you, yeahhhh~_ "

Regina slammed her hands on the keyboard and glared at the wall where her neighbor was supposed to be. Four hours of silence was broken when another loud song suddenly blasts next door surprising the hell out of Regina, but she wouldn't admit to jumping off her seat when the song suddenly rose in volume in the chorus.

She marched back to her neighbor’s door to pound on it before stopping herself, she took a few deep breaths before knocking properly. This time it took just a few seconds before the same blonde opened the door with a loud sigh. She was now wearing a gray v neck shirt and sweat pants, thank god.

Regina raised a brow at her assuming she already knew why she's there.

"Yeah, yeah, I know we'll lower the volume," the blonde rolled her eyes, she pulled back from the door and shouted, "Henry turn that volume down right now!" The music slowly lowered and a loud, "sorry, mom!" was heard somewhere inside.

The blonde returned to her, "the kid's the one responsible for the loud music, your majesty, and I'll try to keep him from blasting you in the other room."

Regina stared at the blonde with confusion before the information that she has a son sunk in. They moved in just a couple of months ago while she was busy finishing her first book so there wasn't much to tell.

"Mom, let's go the chocolate's going to get cold," a small boy appeared beside the woman and tugged at her shirt.

"Just a moment, kid," she ruffled his hair, "I'll be right there."

Henry pouted at her mother and looked at their visitor. He seems to recognize her when his eyes widened and he urgently tugged on the blonde's shirt and gestured for her to bend so he can whisper something to her.

"Is that the woman you were having a crush on?" Henry not-so-whispered at the blonde's ear that Regina could totally hear.

"What? Kid, no," she quickly stood up and let out a nervous laugh, "that was just Ruby making a joke, I told you not to listen to her."

"Belle said the same thing too," he tilted his head in confusion, "you said I should listen to her because she's smart and-"

"Okay kid that's enough," she turned him around and gently pushed him back to the kitchen, "you go and make sure the chocolate stays warm, don't even dare to take a lick before we use it." Once Henry was following her orders, she ran her hand through her blonde locks, now Regina recognized as a nervous tick, her face was very red, which Regina found amusing, and she grumbled something about librarians and waitresses.

"Sorry about the kid," she said without looking at Regina, her hands shoved into her pants' pockets, "my friend teases me all the time when Henry's around, I guess he got that idea from them."

"So it seems," Regina couldn't help the smirk forming on her lips.

Seconds ticked by and neither of them said anything or do anything to cut their awkward interaction, the blonde shuffled from feet to feet and kept on running her hand through her hair. When she finally looked up to Regina, she was met with a raised brow and an amused smirk, which only made her more flustered and Regina almost giddy.

"So..." the blonde started.

"Wait," Regina interrupted, "I know that you've been here for almost four months and I know your child's name but not yours, I think it's more appropriate to call you by your name than ' _the annoying neighbor_ ' don't you think?"

The blonde rolled her eyes but gave her a small smile.

"The annoying neighbor's name is Emma Swan."

"Miss Swan, I-"

_"Looking from a window above it's like a story of love, can you hear me~"_

Emma whipped her head towards the source of the sound and found Henry messing with her phone on the speaker. He was petrified with his hands still hovering the screen, a shit-eating grin on his face.

"Henry!" Emma didn't close the door before running towards Henry and the kid running away while laughing. Regina stayed where she stood, amused by the antics of both mother and son.

"Sorry," Emma returned, making sure that Henry's hiding from her embarrassed mother, her face was full blown flushed and her hair was obviously fixed as it was messy from her nervous habit. "So I guess I should say goodbye before anything else happens."

Regina bit her lip to stop a smile from forming on her lips, "A great idea."

"I'll make sure Henry won't disturb you again with his loud music, I'll hide the speaker if necessary."

"I'm sure it won't be."

"Um... so, okay, bye," Emma gave a small wave and a nervous smile before closing the door.

Regina returned to her room sitting on her desk chair and staring at the words on her screen, trying to find the momentum she lost before the event. Her ears listening for any unwanted Christmas songs but Emma seem to make Henry follow her this time. She could still hear the faint intro piano sound of the last song Henry played and she found herself searching for it using the lyrics she remembered.

She ended up downloading the song and kept it on loop until she memorized every word and every line. She wouldn’t admit to humming or, god forbid, singing along to the song.

She promised herself that it would be the last thing she’d like that remotely sounds like Christmas.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sure theres many mistakes but i just wanna get them out in the wild.


End file.
